SEC Commissioner Kara Stein advocated for a broader range of standardized disclosure requirements, including as to environmental, social and governance ("ESG") information disclosure. In a speech at the Council of Institutional Investors 2018 Fall Conference, Ms. Stein criticized the ...

SEC Commissioner Kara M. Stein warned of a fast-approaching retirement crisis and suggested ways in which the agency and investors can act to ensure that Americans approaching retirement have adequate savings. In remarks at the Brookings Institution, Ms. Stein stated that a retirement crisis is ...

SEC Commissioner Kara M. Stein urged the agency to expand its cybersecurity regulations in various ways, including (i) establishing requirements as to a corporate board of directors having meetings with the company's Chief Information Officer and (ii) subjecting broker-dealers and investment ...

Thank you Dean [Wendy] Hensel for that kind introduction. It is an honor to be chosen to give the 62nd Henry J. Miller Distinguished Lecture at Georgia State University College of Law. It is a testament to Henry Miller himself that his legacy continues to advance a public dialogue on so many ...

The SEC proposed rule amendments to "simplify and streamline" the financial disclosure requirements for certain guarantors and issuers under Regulation S-X for certain registered debt offerings. According to the proposal, the amendments would streamline the financial disclosure ...

The SEC adopted amendments to Regulation ATS that will impose additional public disclosure requirements on alternative trading systems ("ATS") that trade stocks listed on national securities exchanges. The disclosures will be made through the new Form ATS-N. An ATS that is trading stocks ...

The SEC Investor Advisory Committee considered recent SEC proposals that would (i) set a best interest standard for broker-dealers that provide investment advice to retail clients and (ii) impose additional disclosure obligations on broker-dealers and investment advisers. The Committee examined: ...

Activities:

Advice and Fiduciary, Disclosures to Customers, Suitability and Consumer Protection

By a vote of 3-2 along party lines, the SEC voted to advance a proposal to revamp Volcker Rule regulations. SEC Chair Jay Clayton and Commissioners Michael Piwowar and Hester Peirce voted in favor of the proposal. Commissioners Kara Stein and Robert Jackson Jr. opposed it. The proposal was ...

The SEC approved a rule and two requests for comments relating to mutual fund disclosure. The SEC voted to (i) adopt a new rule that will implement an optional, online delivery method for fund shareholder reports, (ii) request input from fund investors on how to enhance fund disclosures and (iii) ...

Yesterday, the Commission adopted a new rule and issued two requests for comment designed to address different aspects of how mutual fund investors receive information. This includes the method of delivery, the information that is delivered, what the information looks like, and the costs associated ...

I also would like to thank the staff for all of their hard work on this proposal. I’d like to begin my statement this morning with a quote about today’s proposed amendment to the Volker Rule: [W]e recognize that the proposed amendment could increase moral hazard risks related to proprietary trading ...

I would like to join Chairman Clayton in thanking the staff for their extremely hard work on these proposals. This truly was a Herculean task done in a very short period of time. Over two hundred years ago, before any organized stock exchanges, twenty-four brokers came together under the leafy ...

Good morning. Thank you, Bill [Hinman] for that kind introduction. As always, it is a pleasure to be with you today at SEC Speaks. Before I continue, I will remind you that the views I express here today are my own and may not necessarily reflect those of my fellow Commissioners, or of the staff of ...

SEC Chair Jay Clayton, SEC Commissioner Kara Stein and other SEC officials and industry leaders shared perspectives on developing challenges and opportunities in shareholder engagement. In a SEC-NYU Dialogue on Shareholder Engagement in New York, panelists debated the current state of shareholder ...

The North American Securities Administrators Association ("NASAA") warned investors about the risks associated with Initial Coin Offerings ("ICOs") and other cryptocurrency-related investments. According to a NASAA survey, state regulators are nearly unanimous in their concern ...

Activities:

Jurisdiction by Product or Activity, Suitability and Consumer Protection

SEC Commissioner Kara Stein described the current exchange-traded product ("ETP") marketplace and discussed how regulators can best keep up with significant market developments. At the Investment Company Institute 2017 Securities Law Developments Conference, Commissioner Stein explained ...

Former SEC Commissioner Isaac C. Hunt Jr. passed away Sunday, October 29. He served as a Commissioner from February 1996 to December 2001 and from January 2002 to August 2002. "We are profoundly saddened by the passing of former SEC Commissioner Isaac C. Hunt Jr. "Appointed to the ...

The SEC issued three no-action letters to enable market participants to comply with the research provisions of MiFID II while complying with the applicable requirements of U.S. securities laws. MiFID II is due to come into effect on January 3, 2018. The issues addressed by each letter arose because ...

Today, staff from the Division of Investment Management and the Division of Trading and Markets issued a series of no-action letters related to the research payment provisions in the Council of the European Union’s Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (“MiFID II”).[1] MiFID II will give ...

The SEC approved a new Public Company Accounting Oversight Board ("PCAOB") auditor reporting standard that expands the scope of audit reports that must be communicated to an audit committee to include a discussion of "critical audit matters" ("CAMs"). The new standard ...

Today, the Commission unanimously approved an auditing standard issued by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB). This standard marks the first significant change to the auditor's report in more than 70 years. The new auditor's report should provide investors with more ...

Commissioner Kara M. Stein I want to welcome everyone this morning. I also would like to join Chairman Clayton in welcoming the two new members of the Committee, Allison Bennington and Min Nguyen. As we all know, advances in technology have greatly impacted all aspects of our capital markets. Today ...

Commissioner Kara M. Stein Good morning. I would like to join Chairman Clayton in thanking the staff for their work on this proposal and, in particular, Shehzad Niazi, Daniel Morris and Angie Kim in the Division of Corporation Finance, Michael Pawluk and Matt DeLesDernier in the Division of ...